Artificial fire effects for entertainment purposes are commonplace and have been used in amusement park rides and installations, Halloween props, stage and film productions, and other, different kinds of decorations. They provide a safe mechanism for simulating fire, explosions, ballistic weapons, and other dangerous combustion mechanisms. Such effect mechanisms produce negligible heat, no refueling is necessary, and they produce no messy combustion products, such as smoke and burnt fuel (and thus no exhaust or ash collection is necessary). Such technologies provide safety benefits, they are relatively clean, and they eliminate the risks of real combustion mechanisms, which may fail, burn out, or extinguish unexpectedly.
There are several types of devices that generate artificial flames and explosions (e.g., simulated gun fire, explosions, etc.). For example, fire simulations may include a silk sheet which is undulated and illuminated to give the appearance of a moving flame. Another device for generating an artificial flickering flame effect is a lamp having a flicker circuit, wherein the flicker circuit is used to modulate the glowing light source within the bulb, thereby giving an appearance of a candle burning inside a lantern or a sconce. In a further example, gun fire may be simulated by a blast of steam or dust combined with a reddish light to give the impression of a muzzle flash.
However, none of the conventional systems for simulating flames and combustion have been able to provide an effective simulation of sparks resulting from combustion or explosions. Improved artificial combustion effect systems are needed to address the shortcomings of conventional systems.